his side in these fiscal cliff negotiations. different than a year and a half ago when the president dealt only with republicans in congress. this time he is taking the case to americans and getting outside of washington, d.c. congressional republicans not so happy that the president is doing this. >> we understand that. paul steinhauser live in washington, thank you. >>> let's talk more about the fiscal cliff. we have the washington correspondent for the new yorker and cnn contributor ryan lizza with us. john boehner and the president in a room, just the two of them. good idea? >> i think it is a good idea. >> if you look at the accounts of the negotiations of 2011 when you had boehner, mcconnell, nancy pelosi all in one ba bainer and the president who were on the phone meeting privately. they could go fwook their constituents and boehner could go to eric cantor and see what kind of deal they could get. but that was the dynamic that came the closest. >> they didn't have control of their parties basically right? does john boehne